Rare snow in Tokyo blankets shrines, cancels flights

Snow falls near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on January 6, 2022

Snow blanketed Tokyo on Thursday as hours of flurries forced the cancellation of over 100 domestic flights and the weather agency issued the city's first heavy snow warning in four years.

Residents held umbrellas and pushed their bicycles as large snowflakes began to settle, with the Japan Meteorological Agency saying up to 10 centimetres (four inches) could fall over a 12-hour period.

The JMA issued a heavy snow alert for the Tokyo area for the first time since 2018, warning of potential disruption to traffic. 

The snow caused the cancellation of 66 departing and 53 arriving domestic flights at the Japanese capital's main airport Haneda, an airport official told AFP, but no international flights were cancelled.